I've done it before but unlike previous attempts that lasted for a maximum of ten days, this one I'm keeping open-ended. If I feel like it, and if I feel good, I'm going to keep going.

I first discovered the Master Cleanse in 1997 at the age of 29.
It was a drug-addict who introduced me to it. She has unsuccessfully tried the cleanse to kick her drug habit but could only last a couple of days.

For my first attempt, I did it with a couple of buddies. We lasted the whole ten days. It was a wild experience. I'd never done anything like it before and it helped me to quit smoking cigarettes.

During 1998, at the age of 30, I did the cleanse three times, each time for ten days. I think that year was the healthiest I'd ever been as an adult. I was cigarette free, drug free, alcohol free, coffee free and I exercised five days a week at the gym. I never had so much as a sniffle.

Alas, I never kept up with such a sensible lifestyle.

As my thirties progressed, my bad habits crept back and while I've dabbled in the cleanse sporadically over the years, I've never gotten back on track like in '98.

I finally gave up the cigarettes five years ago, but replaced the habit with a terrible diet and gained a massive amount of weight in the process. I ballooned from 205 lbs to 260 within 18 months and I've been holding steady at that weight ever since. (And truthfully, I was probably 20 lbs overweight to begin with!)

I've done the cleanse twice since then, lost loads of weight, but the weight simply came back.

I also developed a chronic condition called 'blepharitis' which basically causes a series of painful sties to erupt along my upper eye lids. I tried everything the doctor gave me: antibiotic cream, drops....etc but nothing worked.

When I last did the cleanse at the beginning of this year, my blepharitis flared up terribly. I wasn't alarmed because it's not unusual for underlying conditions to worsen on the fast, it's often part of the healing process.

Following the fast, I never had a flare up of the blepharitis for over 7 months! Prior to the fast, I was in a constant cycle of flare-ups.

So that was proof positive to me of the beneficial aspects of the master cleanse. It helped give me some long term relief from what is a chronic condition.

Anyway, the bleph is back (still not as bad as before) so I'm embarking upon another fast.

BUT - this one is going to be different.

First of all, my hope is not to simply get relief from the blepharitis, but I want this cleanse to be the beginning of a new lifestyle, based on a sensible, healthy diet and exercise.

I'm also leaving it open. I may go longer than ten days if I can handle it. I may also go on a hardcore diet following the fast.

And the other thing that's unusual about this cleanse, is that I'm doing it in conjunction with juicing. Along with my lemonade drinks, I'm going to drink about 1 or 2 glasses of fresh juice a day. I'm not following a specific plan here but I have a juicing book and I'm going to experiment and modify my approach as I go.

Anyway, I am about to embark upon day three.

It took me a while to psyche myself up for this (which is usually the case with me.) I was supposed to start a week ago but I keep procrastinating and messing around and breaking down at some point during the day.

But what I did do was I quit coffee a good week before I started the fast.

I have a terrible coffee habit. I drink buckets of it, loaded with cream and sugar. And as anyone knows who's tried to quit a serious coffee habit, the withdrawal can be horrible.

In fact, I used the fast once to quit coffee cold turkey and I was incapacitated for the first two days, with a chronic headache, and an overall feeling of uneasiness and nausea.

But this time, I weaned myself off the coffee before starting the fast.

So....

Saturday, Oct. 17th - Day 1. 260 lbs.

Along with my lemonade drinks, I made one glass of fresh juice: (Beet, Carrot, Apple).

I didn't do the salt water or the laxative tea. I find that it's best not to do either of those for the first two days. There's still too much solid waste in your system that will work itself out naturally. In fact, doing the salt water on the first day is a nasty business. It's much better to wait until your system is empty, then you'll reap the rewards of the salt water cleanse and the tea.

Sunday, Oct 18th - Day 2 255 lbs.

Great news when I weighed myself. I was 255 lbs!
I'd lost 5 lbs since gearing up for the cleanse (I previously weighed myself about a week earlier.)

Along with the lemonade, I made two glasses of fresh juice: (Beets, Carrot, Apple, Ginger.)

I have to say, that juice is delicious!

And I had plenty of bowel movements today. I think I emptied myself out today. I'll probably do my first salt water on day four.

Today, I plan to hit the gym for the first time since the fast began. I've been dabbling with it on and off leading up to the fast but I plan to go regularly during the cleanse.

I had a few hunger pangs this evening for the first time on the cleanse. Not so much hunger 'pangs' but rather, 'ideas' about food. I actually weaned myself off food gradually before the fast began. I had only one meal on Friday so by Saturday, I was halfway in the mode.

Anyway, I'm feeling pretty good right now. I feel like I've settled in for the ride and I'm just going to focus on the experience of the cleanse, not worry about hitting a specific end date, and I'm going to use this time to plan out a new lifestyle for myself.

I'm not hungry just bored of not cooking and enjoying a great meal. I love looking and discovering new flavours - especially a bugger as I am travelling at the mo.
But heh whats's 10, 20, 30 days break out of your life to get really healthy and maybe cure some illness?

I've replaced the dinner/ wine treat at night with snuggling up with a big warm pot of organic peppermint tea followed by lax tea and a great movie every night... it really helps having that to look forward to at the end of every fasting day.

my mum used to do a fasting cleanse every year. she used to live on fruit juices alone for a week. she had an apple/banana juicer with her fruit processor, so apart from all the citrusy lemons, oranges and similar easy to squeeze fruit, she'd have more softer fruit juice.

It looks like you just need to adopt a healthier lifestyle between your cleanses if you want to get rid of symptoms for good.
I don't know where you live, but everytime I travel to the US I realize how hard it is to find healthy food. And in the UK it's hard to find tasty veggies and fruit. In some places you really need to look for fresh organic stuff. Other places are easier... but it definitely helps avoiding shops that sell crap.

I know it's easy for me to say, I was raised very healthy, and when I see junk food, chips, greasy food I think: you are what you eat.
Don't get me wrong, I love a piece of chocolate cake or sweet delicacy as a treat. But not too much and I love love love healthy meals.

I guess it's all about the balance in life.
Hey good luck with your new cleanse. I am going to miss the variety of fruit flavours on the MC.

I don't know where you live, but everytime I travel to the US I realize how hard it is to find healthy food. And in the UK it's hard to find tasty veggies and fruit. In some places you really need to look for fresh organic stuff. Other places are easier... but it definitely helps avoiding shops that sell crap.

Unfortunately, I can't use that excuse. I live in a big city and there's TONS of healthy food options everywhere. I just need to discipline myself.

The thing with the fast though, it tends to purge you of all your unnatural cravings so my plan is to use that momentum to introduce a different style of eating. i.e. lots of salads, fruits and vegetables.

So far, I've already lost 6.2 lbs! That's quite amazing. I'm sure most of it is water, waste...etc but it gets the ball rolling.

Anyway, today was good. I slept for a really long time (once I got to sleep last night, that is) and I'm feeling pretty good, pretty calm.

Along with about four concoctions, I had two glasses of fresh juice today (carrots, beets, ginger and apple.)

I have to say, I think the combination of the cleanse with the juice is working for me. I haven't been hungry. (I've had a couple of psychological pangs the past couple of nights, late in the night, but I managed to shake them off.)

My eyes are feeling pretty good as well. Currently, there's no outbreak of the bleph (I was heading into the clear part of the cycle when it started though.) I'm curious to see what happens to this condition over the next week.

And other than a horrible zit that's grown on the side of my nose, I'm feeling pretty good.

I'm really glad I weaned myself off coffee BEFORE I started the fast because the last few days would not have been anywhere near this pleasant. Anyway, bring on day four!

Day 4 is already here. Weight loss so far: 7.4 lbs.
I'm still combining the master cleanse with the juice fast. So far, I have no complaints - no real hunger pangs (a couple of psychological moments) and I'm feeling pretty good, although tired.

Today is the first day that the 'calm' feeling has started to settle in. I love that phase of the fast - this is really the most enjoyable.

I have to look into the pros and cons of combining the master cleanse with a fresh juice fast but I'm doing this as an experiment. I've done the cleanse a few times before for ten days each time and followed the book religiously. This is the first time I've experimented - and I have to say, it's been much more enjoyable.

Today, I made a wicked fresh juice cocktail: carrots, celery, parsley, spinach, beets and apples. (I'm enjoying a glass of it right now actually.)
This cocktail is POTENT! You get a high from it, it's so packed with minerals and nutrients.

I also did the salt water flush this morning.

That was as eventful as it usually is - but you really have to engage in the SWF to speed up the benefits of the fast. It really helps to usher in that calm, serene, clean feeling.

So far so good. I didn't have a great sleep last night so I'm looking forward to a nice, long, hardcore sleep tonight and waking up tomorrow feeling refreshed. Bring on Day Five.

Hi, drinking anything other than the lemonade will stop your digestive system fully shutting down and that's what you don't want otherwise you are only getting maybe half of the cleansing benefits. Also, if you're hungry, that's why!

Hi, drinking anything other than the lemonade will stop your digestive system fully shutting down and that's what you don't want otherwise you are only getting maybe half of the cleansing benefits. Also, if you're hungry, that's why!

That's odd because the sugars in fruits and vegetables are generally monosaccharides which require zero digestion as opposed to Maple Syrup which is a disaccaride and requires some digestive process in order to break down.

I've done the cleanse before and I have to say, I don't feel much different. I don't have any hunger pangs. In fact, I have less hunger on this one that on previous fasts.

Bottom line, I'm still getting a bowel rest, I'm still dropping weight, I'm still feeling better and I'm probably taking in more nutrients with the juicing than I've had in a while.

Maybe as I get deeper into the fast, I might do a few days of the old school, hardcore cleanse just to compare and contrast but for now, it's an interesting experiment.

well.. the MC is called the MASTER cleanse... that doesn't mean any other cleanse is not good for you.
I think it's great you're trying all this stuff.. if you've done the MC before, you know what's best

and just living on healthy juices is definitely going to cleanse your body...

have you tried any berries? maybe you can find fresh rare berries in season. people normally don't think about them much, but berries are really good for you.. high vitamins and antioxidants
you can also get elixers from the health shops - like cordials - i understand it's not fresh.. but the next best thing if you can't find fresh

I didn't lose any weight today. In fact, I put on .6 of a pound, weirdly enough. (Maybe the juices?)

Anyway, I'm having a lemonade concoction right now and taking stock of my progress. Other than my sleep patterns getting destroyed this week, it's been going well. My skin's looking a little dirty but no major break-outs save for a couple of blotches.

Tomorrow and Friday, I have to work for the first days of this cleanse. I'm not really looking forward to engaging with the world at large. I'm feeling a bit out of it but hopefully I'll settle in.

I did the salt water this morning. Worked like a charm as always.

This is an important thing to do because it helps eliminate toxins. The problem on the fast is, you dislodge toxins more rapidly than the body can expell them, so the SWF helps to flush them out. If you don't eliminate, you can break out really easily, as the skin will pick up the slack and do some of the detox work.

Dry Brushing is supposed to be a great help before you shower as well although I haven't been doing that.

I picked up a bottle of mouth wash tonight. I normally don't use mouth wash regularly but I'm conscious of the 'fasting breath' and I have to talk to people today so I don't wanna offend and/or disgust anyone. It's probably not ideal to use something like this during a cleanse but I can't afford to assault anyone with bad breath. (I know Burroughs recommends the mint tea but it's not quite enough to do the trick. Hell, the mouth wash barely helps!)

Hopefully I can get to bed at a decent time tonight and get the hardcore rest that I'm really craving.

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